Golden Dumplings (Aranygaluska):

The base of delicious golden dumplings is the light dough, which you boost with butter, ground walnuts and raisins (if you prefer). Then, you complete it by pouring over vanilla custard or wine custard. Naturally, you can serve it in different ways. Some people make it with caramel or chocolate sauce, replace the walnuts with poppy seeds or ground hazelnuts, while others serve it with cinnamon and homemade jam. But the traditional version calls for ground walnuts, raisins and vanilla custard. The following recipe is from nosalty.hu, and we have chosen it because it is said to be a fool-proof recipe from a gastro-expert grandma.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 500 grams of flour
• 20 grams of yeast
• 70 grams of butter
• 3 dl of milk
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon of butter (to grease the baking tin)

For the topping

• 300 grams of ground walnut
• 150 grams of sugar
• 100 grams of butter

For the custard

• 7 dl of milk
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 vanilla stick
• 60 grams of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of flour  

Directions:

Sieve the flour into a bowl. Add the yeast to the lukewarm milk along with the sugar and let the mixture raise.
Melt the butter and add it to the flour along with the egg yolks and the raised yeast.
Persistently mix and knead the dough with your hands until small bubbles are formed in. Sprinkle some flour on the top, cover it and let it raise to double the size.
After the dough has raised, roll it out to a thickness of approximately one centimetre and cut out circles with a round dough-knife.
Grease a cake tin, melt the 100 grams of butter, and mix the sugar and ground walnuts.
Dip the round dumplings in the melted butter, then in the sugary walnut mixture and place them in the cake tin. Carefully bake them at 180-200° Celsius.

While the dumplings are baking, make the vanilla custard. Add the vanilla seeds to the milk, and bring it to a boil.
Then, take it off the heat. In another pan, mix the egg yolks with the sugar and flour.
Slowly start adding the vanilla milk to the egg mixture and cook it on low heat until it reaches a custard consistency (not too thick, still liquid).
After the dumplings have baked, let them cool for a bit. Then, tear them into smaller pieces and serve them with the vanilla custard.

Sponge Cake (Somlói galuska):

It was first made for the World Exhibition of 1958 in Brussels by József Béla Szőcs. It won the professional price and became an instant favourite.
The confectioner gave the name to the cake, which comes from the name of the hill, Somlyó, where he lived and worked.
The original recipe is still a secret, but many people tried to recreate it so we have many recipes all over the country.
However, you can tell if you eat a real Hungarian sponge cake. This dessert is the encounter of several tasty layers which would work in themselves too.
Now, don’t let the list of ingredients scare you away. It takes some time to make it but it is definitely worth the efforts!

Ingredients:

For the simple sponge:

• 4 eggs
• 4 tablespoons of sugar
• 4 tablespoons of flour
• 0,5 a teaspoon of baking powder
• 2 tablespoons of water  

For the cocoa sponge:

• 4 eggs
• 4 tablespoons of sugar
• 4 tablespoons of flour
• 0,5 a teaspoon of baking powder
• 2 tablespoons of water
• 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder  

For the walnut sponge:

• 4 eggs
• 4 tablespoons of sugar
• 4 tablespoons of flour
• 0,5 a teaspoon of baking powder
• 2 tablespoons of water
• 2 tablespoons of ground walnut  

For the vanilla cream:

• 4 egg yolks
• 5 dl-s of milk (2 cups)
• 75 grams of flour
• 120 grams of sugar
• 0,5 vanilla stick
• 2 teaspoons of gelatine  

For the syrup:

• 200 grams of sugar
• 3 dl water
• 1 dl rum
• 0,25 of a vanilla stick
• the zest of 1 lemon
• the zest of 1 orange  

For the chocolate cream:

• 150 grams of dark chocolate
• 0,5 a dl of rum
• 50 grams of sugar
• 50 grams of cocoa powder
• 1 dl water  

For the filling:

• 120 grams of walnut
• 50 grams of apricot jam
• 80 grams of raisins
• 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder (to sprinkle)  

For the whipped cream:

• 4 dl of whipping cream    

Directions:

Firstly, you need to bake the three sponges. Separate the eggs and whip up the egg whites with a tablespoon of sugar.
Combine the egg yolks, sugar, flour, baking powder, water and mix them well.
When making the cocoa and walnut sponge, add in the cocoa powder and ground walnut along with the other ingredients.
Slowly start adding the egg whites and gently mix them in.
Spread the batters into pans lined with baking parchment and bake for 15 minutes at 180 Celsius degrees.
They won’t rise too much and they have to be soft.

To make the vanilla cream, bring the milk to a boil with the seeds of the vanilla stick. In a bowl, mix together the egg yolks, the sugar and the flour until combined well.
Then, start adding in the milk (which you have allowed to cool down) while constantly stirring. Cook the combined mixture slowly until it becomes creamy.
Mix the gelatine with half a dl of hot water and add it to the cream.

For the syrup, mix everything together in a bowl then put it on the heat in a saucepan and bring it to a boil. When ready, let the syrup cool down.

At this point, you start to assemble all you have made so far. You put the first layer of sponge (it is up to your liking which one you start with) into a wide and flat bowl.
With the help of a brush, you soak the sponge with some of the syrup. Don’t soak it completely; you just want it to be moist.
Spread half of the vanilla cream on the sponge layer and sprinkle it with some walnuts (chopped up to small pieces) and raisins (preferably soak them in rum for some time beforehand).

Then comes the second layer of sponge and you repeat the same steps: syrup, vanilla cream, walnuts and raisins.

For the last layer of sponge, you soak it with syrup and spread the apricot jam on the top and sprinkle with cocoa powder.
This is the time when you put this into the fridge for a whole day so that the layers and flavours can really come together.

You need to cook the chocolate cream the next day before you serve the dessert. You break the chocolate and put it into a smaller saucepan with the cocoa powder, sugar, water and rum.
Cook this until it becomes thick enough for a cream.
Whip up the whipping cream and you have completed all of the steps.

You just have to serve your sponge cake. You take your mixture of sponge layers out of the fridge and make little scoops with a spoon.
They need to look like little balls, noodles (galuska). Put them on a plate and top it with your chocolate cream and whipped cream. You’re done!

Enjoy your meal!

sources: articles written by Alexandra Béni, Daily News Hungary